Energy is there for Union, goals are not

CHESTER — In the dying minutes of what the Philadelphia Union, to a man, felt was a second undeserved result in three weeks last Saturday, the missing element couldn’t be clearer.

Even in the hostile environs of Columbus’ Crew Stadium, the Union had spent most of the day on the front foot. They possessed the more organized and pointed attack, they peppered Columbus’ penalty area with 19 attempts, four of them on target, and they held their own in terms of possession with 47 percent, certainly respectable away from home.

But the scoreboard’s grim truth was that they had but one goal — and a 2-1 loss to an Eastern Conference rival — to show for the effort. That paucity of scoring has, to the chagrin of the club, become something of a trend.

The good news is that the Union (1-1-1, 4 points) are averaging a goal a game through three contests this season. The bad news is that they’ve settled into a rut of not parlaying that goal into further offense. The last time the Union scored more than once in a game was Aug. 10, a 2-0 win over D.C. United, a string of 13 outings of one goal or less.

As the composition of Hackworth’s team has shifted through an offseason of improvement and investment, the scoring problem has persisted. The root causes, however, have evolved.

This year’s worry isn’t in the number or quality of chances created, as the loss to Columbus suggested. It’s in the ability to finish those opportunities, to find the crucial final pass or final touch to get the ball into the net.

“The reality is, you look at the first half against Columbus, it’s almost like we drew up exactly what we wanted, but we didn’t make the plays,” Hackworth said. “At halftime, we talked a lot of, ‘look, we did the right things, but we made the wrong choice at the wrong time on a number of counterattacks.’ In the second half, that changed and we created a ton of really good opportunities, but the execution wasn’t there.”

Emphasis on tidying up that part of their game has been a major facet of training this week as the Union prepare for a visit from Montreal (Saturday, 4 p.m.).

“We got lots of opportunities, but I think this week we tried to work more in front of goal and make sure we always finish on target,” forward Sebastien Le Toux said. “At the end, we have to score probably more than one goal to win the game, but the positive thing is that every game we score. We’ve got this, but now maybe we should score more than one goal so that we can make sure that every time we can kill the game, we do that.”

Part of the dearth of goals is down to the personnel. For instance, the six attack-minded players who finished out Saturday’s game had between them a combined 23 MLS goals, the leader among them substitute Danny Cruz with nine. And while the likes of Cristian Maidana and Vincent Nogueira are only three games into their MLS careers, prejudicing the numbers a bit, they are known more as creators than finishers, as Nogueira’s somewhat wasteful finishing in front of goal in Columbus demonstrated.

Not among that group was Jack McInerney, who tallied against Portland but squandered several golden chances against Columbus before being subbed off in the 72nd minute, or Le Toux, who set up Leo Fernandes’ goal before also making way.

And perhaps looming largest, literally and figuratively, is Conor Casey. The 32-year-old striker went down in preseason with a calf injury, and the team has taken a cautious approach with his recovery. Casey, who scored 10 goals and added five assists last season, was in the 18-man gameday roster against Columbus but didn’t feature due to what Hackworth deemed tactical considerations. Hackworth estimated that Casey was fit enough for a 15- to 20-minute outing.

In Casey, the Union could have another option to turn to when clinical finishing is in short supply. The assumption from Hackworth, though, is that Casey’s ability to meld with the new, possession-based approach of his team may be a work in progress.

“I think that still remains a little bit of a question,” Hackworth said Tuesday. “I have all the confidence in Conor, but we are playing differently, and we are much more mobile on both sides of the ball right now. That’s a good thing. We don’t want to get away from that. I think Conor has got to be ready and 100 percent ready, and he’s getting back to that for sure.”

Hackworth also opened the door for the coexistence of McInerney and Casey in the same 4-3-3 formation, which thus far has exclusively featured wing forwards like Le Toux and Maidana in the leading trio. Hackworth hinted Tuesday that when Casey is healthy, he could opt for McInerney out wide and install Casey as the central target striker.

The central cause of the offensive shortcomings may be difficult to pinpoint. But it’s certainly been a focus with the hope that they can be rectified against a struggling Montreal side.

“I don’t know. I think it’s a lot of little things,” Le Toux said. “We know we have lots of ability to score goals, lots of players can score goals on this team. Maybe a little bit more of desire at the end to finish our chances, to be for hungry is what we need.”